Real estate
mogul Donald Trump is profiled against his 92-story Trump
International Hotel & Tower during a news conference on
construction progress in Chicago in a May 24, 2007, file
photo.Associated
Press

The New York state attorney general's
$40 million lawsuit against Donald Trump's real estate
investment "university" alleges some of the school's instructors
had previously only worked as motivational speakers or salesmen
while others had gone bankrupt investing in real estate.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's damning
suit repeatedly refutes Trump's claims that he handpicked
instructors who could guarantee students success at real estate
investing in exchange for $25,000 to $35,000 in tuition.

In one video, Trump said "if you don't learn from me, if you
don't learn from the people that we're putting forward, and these
are all the people that are handpicked by me, then you're just
not going to make it," according to the complaint.

In reality, Trump allegedly failed to do substantial research to
back up job candidates' claims that they'd made money from
investing in real estate. From the lawsuit:

In addition, many candidates came directly to Trump University
from other seminar companies — where they worked as
motivational speakers or sales representatives — or
employment having little if anything to do with real estate
investment.

Trump University was also aware that some of its instructors and
mentors who had been investing in real estate had filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection shortly before coming to work at
Trump University, belying any claims of success as real estate
investors.

The students who attended Trump now have their own financial
troubles, Schneiderman says. Some students allegedly took on
$20,000 in credit card debt after Trump University speakers
encouraged them to do so. One lost her life savings at Trump
University, according to the complaint.